Wolfy takes a step forward, closing the distance between us. I look up at him, trying not to let my thoughts of impending doom consume me. He reaches up again, but hovers, leaning down, closer to my face. “Don’t cry, angel.”
The air feels like it’s sucked from my lungs in oneswoosh,hearing his voice. “No,” I whisper as my realities start to blur together. Wolfy moves his hand up further, reaching for his mask, pulling it off to reveal the eyes of my heart.
“Dante?” I stumble back into chairs. He reaches out to stop me from falling, but I pull away, backing up further, continuing my stumbling over chairs as I search for a way out of this nightmare.
“Luna, I know you’re frightened right now, but I can explain. I didn’t think—” Dante says, catching up to me.
“Stay back!” I shout, moving to get away from him again. “Frightened? Dante, I’m more than frightened. What the fuck is going on? Are you Wolfy? My stalker?” My voice cracks, and my heart feels like it’s slowly being ripped apart.
“No! That wasn’t me, I swear. I mean, yes, I’m technically stalking you, but that wasn’t me that night. It’s different with me. I don’t want to hurt you. I’m Dante. Your Dante, remember? Please, if you let me explain—”
“I don't want you to explain! My Dante wouldn’t do this to me. I don’t know who you are, and I don’t want to! Did you think, because I write this type of stuff, that I want to be stalked for real? It's fiction! Fake! Made up stories that are not real, but you’ve made them real! Your little videos on the screen make itvery clearyou’ve been watching me for quite some time. You lured me here under false pretenses, and now, you try to tell me you’renotmy stalker?Don't insult my fucking intelligence, Dante. If that’s even your real name!”
“That is my real name, Luna, please, you know me—”
“But you don’t know me,” I say, cutting him off again. “You don’t know me, Dante. You don’t even know my—after everything I told you?” A sob rips from my chest, “How could you do this to me?” Dante moves towards me again, “No!” I throw my hand up between us, stopping him again, “I don’t want anything from you.” He takes another step, and I rear back, slapping him across the face as hard as I can. “You will let me leave here, and you will never see me again.” My hand stings, and I’m shaking like a leaf.
Dante doesn’t move, his pale face already red from the sting of my slap. I spot my bag still on the chair close by, scooping it up, and head for the door. I twist the knob, my body shaking, and the door opens. I breathe a sigh of relief. I look back at Dante, and he still hasn't moved. He has a distant look on his face, and my heart aches. “You broke me, Dante. Congratulations. Something no one has been able to accomplish until now.”
I slam the door behind me, turning quickly and running back to my car. I toss my purse into the passenger seat as I close my car door and start my car. I scream into my steering wheel so loud it hurts my ears. A few ragged sobs escape before I can turn the keys in the ignition and speed out of the parking lot, nearly sideswiping a stop sign on my way out.
I make it back to my apartment through blurry vision and barely make it into my apartment before I collapse. I fall to my knees, clutching my chest, and crawl to my bedroom.
Binx comes over to me from my pillow, purring loudly and rubbing against my arms as I pull myself up on my bed. I can’t bring myself to comfort him.
Everything hurts.
I tilt my head up, looking over at my nightstand, where the picture Dante and I took together in Salem sits framed. My eyes well with tears once again, and my heart cracks in half.
How did I miss this? How could I let this happen to me again? How did I not know?
No. No, this isn’t my fault.
I grip my hair, pulling hard, just to feelsomething other than my fractured heart.
The clearing of a throat halts my sobbing, and I swallow hard. I turn to face what I think will be Dante, but something far worse is standing in my doorway. “I told you I’d always find you,” Greg says, a wicked grin on his face. I stare at him, truly bewildered at how this night could get any worse. Greg sucks his teeth, rolling his eyes, “still as stupid as you were when you were with me. Still have no idea who you’re fucking, but so willing to give it up for a moment of happiness. Seems I didn’t knock that much sense into you after all.”
“What do you want from me?” I spit, not wanting to hear more of his insults.
“I’ve come to collect you. You owe me after leaving me and taking half my money with you.”
I look at him, confused. “I never took your money. You were broke when I left you; you gambled all our money away. I made my own money to leave you!”
Greg's eyes darken, and I know that look all too well. “That doesn’t matter; it’s what I told my cousins, and you’re going to give it to them. You’ll either pay them, or they will turn you into a cash cow, and let every gangster in Boston rape you. The choice is yours.”
I scoff, “Like hell I will. You might as well kill me right now.”
Greg smiles, and fear prickles at the nape of my neck. “I was hoping you’d say something like that.” Greg steps aside, and a tall blonde man in all black comes into view. He has on a black medical face mask, and he looks at me with disgust; my mind flashes back to the night of my break-in, images I thought I didn’t see, a glimpse of a pair of brown eyes looking back at me as I slam my bedroom door. And then to the day at the gym, the way he’s looking at me—
It’s him.
It’s the creep from the gym. The one Dante cussed out. He’s the one who broke into my apartment. I never saw his face, just his eyes, but I remember him now; he’s wearing the same mask he wore that night.
That means it wasn’t Dante.He was telling the truth.
He moves quickly, and I thrash as he cagesme, kicking and screaming. He stabs something into my arm, and my vision immediately starts to blur. I suddenly feel like my whole body is being dragged underwater, everything moves in slow motion, and I’m fighting to keep my eyes open. My body becomes too weak, and my arms fall limp to the side. I can no longer put up a fight, and dread fills me.
The man gets off me, and Greg stands over me, smiling again. He caresses my face, and I feel a tear escape. “You’ve lost, Elena,” he says softly, as my vision tunnels until everything fades into the background. His voice echoes around in my mind as I let the water take me under.
